European Forum

Mandate of international judges in Bosnia for war crime cases extended for 3 years

The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) yesterday extended the mandate of international judges working with war crimes sections of the Court of BiH and its Prosecution, for three years. Whereas they were due to leave by the end of 2009, Valentin Inzko said that the international personnel can stay until 30 December, 2012. 

The court of BiH deals with war crimes, organised crime and terrorism. The foreign judges and prosecutors will be installed as advisors to the Bosnian courts, said Inzko. 

Dodik calls for referendum
The Bosnian Serbs are against the extension of the mandate. Following the announcement, Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, said he will call a special session of the RS Parliament to vote on whether to organise a referendum on Inzko's decisions. He also said the government will instruct the Parliament to withdraw the agreement for the appointments to the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council. "This has nothing to do with destabilization, it has to do with the legal dignity and sovereignty of the country and the right of the RS to have its opinion and we will not back away", Dodik said. 

International staff necessary for war crimes
Inzko said he extended the mandate because the prosecution of war crimes is an international obligation for Bosnia. Besides that, the state Parliament failed to adopt the changes and amendments to the law on the Court and Prosecution of BiH, by which the mandate of international staff involved in war-crimes cases was to be extended. The amendments to the law were not accepted, because representatives of parties based in RS did not support them. 

If the international personnel would leave, lots of war crimes and corruption files would not be dealt with, as the Bosnian court does not have any replacement, nor the money to hire new staff. The High Representative explained that the failure to extend their mandates would also have "serious consequences" because witnesses would have to testify again. "I could not let a woman, a rape victim, come to the court to testify again and thus once again go through the trauma. (...) The mandate extension decision does not prevent the local authorities from securing the budget needed for the transition and replacement of international personnel by local staff members," Inzko said. 

EU welcomes extension
The EU welcomed the announcement. ''This is the right decision at the right time... the continued presence of international judges and prosecutors is essential to pursuit of justice for the victims and to the work of the ICTY,'' read a statement from Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Olli Rehn, EU Enlargement Commissioner. 

Sources: Balkan Insight; BIRN;